As struggling retailers announce their annual figures, and the media ups the impact of the rise in VAT to 20 per cent, what can shopping centre PR do to take away the fear in 2011?
There’s a subtle yet definite difference between the PR that retailers do to encourage shoppers to spend, and the activity carried out by shopping centres to entice visitors through the door. Of course, everything is inter-related, but it is and should be different.
What shopping centres do, and what their PR supports, is to create the pleasant, warm and welcoming environment in which retailers can set out their stalls and convince shoppers to part with their cash.
In 2011, as retailers fight for a dwindling share of disposable income, in all but the very top end of the market the story will be about price first. As a consequence, the retailer to retailer story may become homogenised – come to us because we’re cheaper than the shop down the mall.
However, the current economic climate will not last forever and in our belief that the retailers that will win through will be those who successfully combine value with good service.
And this is where shopping centre PR practitioners can help.
The focus needs to be on making the shopping centre the must-have place to be. Community focus will become ever more important – woe betide the shopping centre management that estranges itself from the town or city in which it operates.
Where tenant retailers shine on service, that’s where the story should be. It’s an easy job to get shoppers in once on price; it is quite another to encourage loyalty and continuing quality usage.
The work we will do in 2011 for our shopping centre clients will see more liaison and interaction with the wider community, the promotion of good service practice in tenant retailers, and the further development of the shopping centre as a key venue.
In 2011, careful shoppers will need to be rewarded for their loyalty not just to retail brands, but also to the shopping centres that house them.
